Indians disappoint in men’s 20km race walk at Olympics

Paris, Aug 1 (PTI) India’s Vikash Singh and Paramjeet Singh finished at lowly 30th and 37th positions respectively while national record-holder Akshdeep Singh pulled out after the 6km mark as Indian race walkers produced a disappointing performance in the 20km event of the Olympics here on Thursday.

Vikash clocked 1 hour 22 minutes and 36 seconds while Paramjeet crossed the finish line in 1:23:48sec in the race won by Brian Daniel Pintado (1:18:55) of Ecuador.

Caio Bonfim (1:19:09) of Brazil and reigning world champion Alvaro Martin (1:19:11) of Spain took the silver and bronze medals respectively while Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Massimo Stano (1:19:12) of Italy was fourth.

The best performance by an Indian in the Olympics was the 10th-place finish by KT Irfan in the 2012 London Games with a timing of 1:20:21.

Priyanka Goswami will compete in the women’s 20km race walk event later in the day.